Random Photos

[jtbell]

 

[berkeman]

I was like WITW? And then I had a guess that was confirmed with the 3rd picture.

 

[Algr]

What's perhaps even sadder is that people don't seem to notice the difference between a photo taken with a cell-phone and a real camera.

Reality is bad.

 

[berkeman]

I saw this picture in my Facebook feed just now, and I'm curious what can cause a rainbow to be so low to the ground. I've never seen one like this. Any ideas?

EDIT/Adding a link to the source on FB:

 

[berkeman]

I've never seen one like this. Any ideas?

@Andy Resnick @Baluncore @Charles Link @DaveC426913

 

[DaveC426913]

I saw this picture in my Facebook feed just now, and I'm curious what can cause a rainbow to be so low to the ground. I've never seen one like this. Any ideas?

View attachment 369707

Very weird...
A rainbow tells you where the sun is behind you - it's directly opposite the centre of the rainbow.

So, if this pic were real, the sun would be opposite the crosshairs (naively, I'm not accounting for lens distortion). It suggests the sun is almost directly overhead :

Worse:

There's a shadow here, showing where the sun really is.

 

[Point Conception]

Very weird...
A rainbow tells you where the sun is behind you - it's directly opposite the centre of the rainbow.

So, if this pic were real, the sun would be opposite the crosshairs (naively, I'm not accounting for lens distortion). It suggests the sun is almost directly overhead :

View attachment 369713

Worse:

There's a shadow here, showing where the sun really is.
View attachment 369715

If the sun is opposite the very low rainbow doesn't that suggest the sun is very low?

 

[berkeman]

If the sun is opposite the very low rainbow doesn't that suggest the sun is very low?

Apparently. But the shadow of the handrail on the trailer/building does not support that...

 

[Point Conception]

Apparently. But the shadow of the handrail on the trailer/building does not support that...

Well if the sun were overhead there wouldn't be too much shadow. So shadow length inversely proportional to sun elevation

 

[berkeman]

The shadow of the handrail on the building suggests that the sun is high in the sky to my left. The rainbow should then be normal height and off to my right.

 

[renormalize]

Assuming the photo is not doctored, the only way I can see this happening is if an angled, specular-reflecting surface (a glass roof or solar-panel array?) is located somewhere between the camera and horizon that redirects the sunlight upward, so it appears to originate below ground level.

EDIT: Never mind, this was a lame suggestion!

 

[jtbell]

A rainbow tells you where the sun is behind you - it's directly opposite the centre of the rainbow.

The angular radius of a rainbow is about 40° to 42° (violet to red). In the picture, the violet edge almost grazes the horizon. Therefore the center of curvature is a smidgen less than 40° below the horizon, and the sun is a smidgen less than 40° above the horizon behind the photographer.

 

[renormalize]

Therefore the center of curvature is a smidgen less than 40° below the horizon, and the sun is a smidgen less than 40° above the horizon behind the photographer.

Agreed!

As the sun gets higher in the sky, the top of the rainbow gets closer to the ground, and the visible portion of the arc gets smaller.

 

[DaveC426913]

If the sun is opposite the very low rainbow doesn't that suggest the sun is very low?

No. It suggests the sun is high in the sky. See jtbell's post 3492 and renormalize's post 3493.

 

[jtbell]

I think I remember once seeing a rainbow below the horizon... from an airplane at cruising altitude, flying near a rainstorm.

 

[Borg]

I have also seen one from an airliner like that.